Early Review: Blood Kin by M.J. Scott

,
by
Kt Clapsadl

Blood Kin by M.J. Scott

The Half-Light City #2

Imagine a
city divided. A city where human and Fae magic rests uneasily next to
the vampire Blood and the shapeshifting Beasts. A city where a fragile
peace is brokered by a treaty that set the laws for all four races… a
treaty that is faltering day by day.

I didn’t plan on becoming a thief and a spy. But options
are limited for the half-breed daughter of a Fae lord. My father
abandoned me but at least I inherited some of his magic, and my skills
with charms and glamours mean that few are as good at uncovering secrets
others wish to hide. Right now the city has many secrets. And those who
seek them pay so well…

I never expected to stumble across a
Templar Knight in my part of the city. Guy DuCaine is sworn to duty and
honor and loyalty — all the things I’m not. I may have aroused more than
his suspicion but he belongs to the Order and the human world. So when
treachery and violence spill threaten both our kind, learning to trust
each other might be the only thing that saves us.

But even if a spy and a holy knight can work together, finding the key to peace is never going to be easy…

Holly's life has never been easy
as her Fae father abandoned her for her limited magic skills and left
her mother so devastated that she can't even function. Yet, bound and
determined, Holly found a way to use her skills with charms and glamour
to carve out a decent life for herself as a spy. Sure she may be on the
wrong side of the law, but she her mother's care is expensive, and
espionage pays well. Everything changes won't she falls (literally) into
the arms of Guy Ducaine, a Templar Knight firmly on the side of all
that is righteous. Never in a million years could she have foreseen the
coming events that would not only have her teaming up with a Templar, but also questioning everything she has ever known.

Just like in Shadow Kin, out of the two love interests, it is the woman who is the one with questionable occupation and morals rather than the man. In so many paranormal romance novels, there seems to be a recurring theme of the "bad boy". The sweet naive role played by so many females honestly gets a little tiring at times. In fact, a lot of the time I find myself leaning more towards urban fantasy novels to avoid this issue, even though that means missing out on the love stuff that I enjoy. So having the role reversal in this series is utterly refreshing as it gives me the best of both worlds with a kick butt heroine and the yummy love stuff too. Now don't get me wrong, the guys in these books are anything but weak willed, they are just firmly on the right side of the law. So it's fun to see how they react to their opposite. It definitely makes things interesting, that's for sure.

I knew there would be fallout from the ending events of Shadow Kin. I had feeling a certain death, and the power vacuum it caused was going to be a terrible mess as everyone scrambled for position in the Blood. However, I never could have predicted how much more complex the issues would actually be. There is such a tangled web being woven, and it very much makes for an incredibly engrossing read. Also, I especially like the way M.J. Scott incorporated the previous couple as an integral part of the story and fallout. I was really glad to see them have more than a walk on role considering they were the ones to really start the mess, so it makes sense they would be there for the blow out.

Like the previous installment, Blood Kin is told in dual first person
perspective, which I absolutely love. It's really great to be able to be
that far into the head of both sides of the relationship as Holly and Guy are two very different people. I just fell like it adds so much more to the reading experience. When you combine that with the other great elements that I loved, like the incredibly intriguing mythology and incredible characters, Blood Kin was a fantastic read. In fact I had started reading it rather late at night, telling myself I would read 100 pages and then go to bed. Those 100 pages quickly turned into an all-nighter as I just couldn't put it down. The only thing that kept me from giving this a perfect rating was that I would have liked to have seen a more developed ending between Holly and Guy. Hopefully they will play an important role in the next installment so we get to see more of them together. So, in the end, I highly recommend Blood Kin as it is a stellar read that will definitely keep you coming back for more!